Balance your energy and mind using a subtle, visualization-based alternate nostril breathing technique.

English

This meditation invites in an advanced version of alternate nostril breathing that employs your intention and attention instead of your hand to move the breath through one nostril and then the next: linking the mind and body through action and perception. This is also a part of a larger meditation series incorporated in this teacher's Reiki Level 1 and 2 Courses. (11)

Alternate Nostril Breathing: Intermediate Version

Hello! My name is Eden, and I am a therapist, Reiki teacher, and meditation guide. Now whether you've found this meditation through one of my Reiki courses or just through the web of life, welcome! These meditations are intended to deepen your relationship to your intuition and gifts, and facilitate an understanding of your own internal landscape. Each meditation is also a tool that can be offered to yourself or a client, so I invite you to notice what shifts within you before, during, after, beyond the meditation, cataloging the effects with words and feelings and sensations. Just letting yourself take note. Allow it to be personal and universal. Let's begin! Today we're going to be exploring a traditional breath pattern called alternate nostril breathing, or Anulom Valom. And traditionally you might have already had some past experience with this breath, which tends to look like closing one nostril and then the other, breathing in through the left as the right is closed, and then out the right as the left is closed, and then in through the right and out through the left, using the hand to plug one nostril at a time. And right now we're actually only going to take that a step further. This is something you can easily cue others into as well, and something that you can do when you are out and about a little more subtly than if you were to do the traditional Anulom Valom. So go ahead and just gently move your awareness, your attention, down to the tip of your nose. Noticing right where you end and the space around you begins. And then with your next inhale, just watching your breath move in through the left nostril, tracing air up the left nostril and into third eye center. And then exhale, watching the breath move out that right nostril, down and out. Inhale, watch the air move up the right nostril to third eye center, and exhale, watching the breath move out through that left nostril, repeating this breath pattern for a few moments here. In through the left, and out the right. In through the right, and out the left, using your breath as your guide, ushering in your own personal pace, letting the power of intention and the power of attention be enough to move the breath in this way. To watch the breath move in this way, one nostril at a time. Maybe you start to notice other sensations as you trace the breath in this way. I tend to notice an opening lower in my cheeks as well. A spaciousness in each nostril. What can you notice? This breath pattern is traditionally used for balance, linking the left and right sides of the brain, that masculine and feminine energies within us, the ida and pingala nadis. And with the next exhale out the left nostril, you can gently let this breath pattern go, bringing in air equally through both nostrils now. Noticing any little shifts or changes or presence. Taking a moment to thank the power of your intention and attention, to gently shift the breath inside the body, linking that mind and body together again.